


Beneath the Mask There is More Than Flesh

by DeGuerre



Category: Doom Patrol (TV)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Male-Female Friendship, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic Relationships, Platonic Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:34:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24358144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeGuerre/pseuds/DeGuerre
Summary: Larry Trainor and Rita Farr are best friends and have spent more than half a century together, so naturally, there are some things only Larry knows about her.
Relationships: Rita Farr & Larry Trainor
Comments: 14
Kudos: 95





	Beneath the Mask There is More Than Flesh

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: All television shows, movies, books, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work, and the characters, settings, and events thereof, are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not-for-profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context and are not intended to be libelous, defamatory, or in any way factual.

You learn a lot about a person over half a century. You learn that there’s nothing you wouldn’t do to protect each other. You learn that there’s no one else in the world you’d rather share a tiny apartment with after finding out the man you thought of as a savior and father figure is actually the person who ruined both your lives for his own selfish gain. You learn that you’re angry he did this to you, but the fact that he did this to her? Well, that’s something you’ll never forgive him for. You learn that you know things about Rita Farr that no one else will ever know.

You’re the only one who knows that the cold, icy exterior she presents to the rest of the world is just a suit of armor to protect a fragile, broken thing. It’s a cage for a big, beautiful heart that’s been broken so many times you worry that one more bump will shatter it forever. You’re the only person she’s ever told that her parents never loved her the way a child should be loved. They loved what she could do and the money she could make, but not the little girl that just wanted to be hugged and kissed and told she was enough. Only you know she’s as stunningly beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside and that’s the one thing you wish she knew too. 

Only you know how much her transformations hurt, both physically and emotionally. Only you know how when she’s having a particularly tough day, the pain of her bones and muscles constantly coming undone and stitching back together is excruciating. Those are the days when she’ll sit quietly in a corner knitting and sipping martinis. You help her keep up the ruse that it’s because she likes the light better there in the evenings, but only you know it’s because it’s all she can do to keep her mind off the pain. Those are the days she flashes that thousand-watt smile to distract from the unshed tears threatening to spill from big, blue eyes.

Everyone assumes she can’t be bothered with cooking because she was a spoiled Hollywood star. Only you know it’s because she nearly burned the manor down trying to scramble eggs 40 years ago and you haven’t let her touch a stove since. You’re the chef and she’s the bartender. She makes a mean mint julep and loses her filters when she’s a little tipsy. That’s something everyone knows, but there are things she’ll only say to you. 

In those rare moments when you’re alone and she has a few drinks in her—her voice gone husky and honeyed—she lays her soul bare for only you. She once confessed to you that she misses making love, but when she quietly added she doesn’t think anyone she’s been intimate with has ever loved her enough to really call it that, your heart ached for her. It was on one of those days when she told you she never saw herself as a mother, but she used to think she’d make a wonderful wife. You know that some potential husband somewhere really missed out because she’s amazing.

Only you know she’s always cold. On nights like tonight, when there are no papers to grade and no trouble on the horizon, you sit together on the sofa in your tiny apartment and watch movies (usually hers). She mouths her lines between handfuls of popcorn and eventually tucks herself into your side and rests her head on your shoulder. You chuckle and shake your head before pulling her in tighter and wrapping her up in a blanket because you already know what she’s after. The bandages keep the radiation from leaking out, but it causes you to be warmer than any human should be and it makes you the perfect personal space heater. It’s not long before she’s breathing softly in your ear in deep, comfortable slumber. 

You don’t move an inch. You let her sleep as long as she wants because you know she needs rest as much as she needs to eat and her anxiety ensures she doesn’t sleep well most nights. Taking care of each other is what you do. You feed her and build her confidence. She encourages you and brings light to the darkness.

Only you know that while you care deeply for the others, Rita Farr is the person you love most in the world. The prospect of potentially living forever is just a bit more bearable knowing your best friend will always be by your side. 

Fin.


End file.
